“…While separation from an abusive parent or mother's partner may allow children to experience safety (Morris et al, 2020) and enjoy their mother's parenting (Bunston et al, 2021), separation itself does not necessarily mean the end of conflict, with the ex-partner often continuing their abuse (Kaspiew et al, 2017;Mertin & Mohr, 2002), especially in cases where they still have contact with their child (McInnes, 2004). Additionally, some children living in women's shelters following separation may experience villainization of their fathers, which may handicap any relationship they wish to have with them (Bunston et al, 2021). Some of the mothers also had a compromised perception of the needs of their children and themselves (Bunston et al, 2021), and difficulty fulfilling them (McInnes, 2004), which coincides with international literature that shows that some abused mothers had issues perceiving their children's internalizing symptoms (Levendosky et al, 2013), while others see their children as either helpless like themselves or violent like their abusive partners, leading to a withdrawal or rejection in their parenting (Levendosky et al, 2012).…”